


Project’s Pairing

by Counselor



Series: Tales from the Project [1]
Category: Red vs. Blue
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-21
Updated: 2020-03-21
Packaged: 2021-02-28 16:33:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 853
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23250253
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Counselor/pseuds/Counselor
Summary: North’s integration with Theta isn’t as easy as he would’ve hoped, but he can try his best to help.
Series: Tales from the Project [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1657849
Kudos: 9





	Project’s Pairing

Agent North Dakota sat at a metal desk. He had been instructed to come here for implantation, and the surgeons had implanted him with an AI three hours ago. He had finally woken up, and had been walked into a blank, simplistic, featureless room. The only thing here was the desk.

He was silent as he waited for someone to come in. North Dakota tapped the screen of his tactical pad on his wrist guard, and a game called “Sniper: Shoot to Kill” was opened. He started the one hundred seventy-fifth mission of the game, and he cursed under his breath as he missed the shot over and over again. That game was hard!

As it turned out, he would not have to wait long. The blank white wall that North Dakota was facing opened up to reveal a hallway, and the Counselor walked into the room. North Dakota quickly turned off his tactical pad and sat up, gazing downward sheepishly.

The Counselor sat down opposite North Dakota at the desk and smiled. “Agent North Dakota, congratulations on your... new addition,” the Counselor said to the agent. North Dakota looked up and smiled a little. “Thanks, Counselor. What did you want to see me for?” he asked. “I am here to oversee that you and Theta become acquainted with each other smoothly,” the Counselor replied.

North Dakota nodded, then sat back in his chair, a blank expression on his face. “We can start right now. North Dakota, please tell Theta to log on,” the Counselor continued. “Okay,” North Dakota said as he tried to coax his new AI to project out of his implants. “Come on, new AI buddy, get out here,” North Dakota prodded. Nothing. “Theta, please come out so that I can have a chance to meet you,” he pleaded again. Still no sign of the AI.

This went on for another fifteen minutes before North Dakota gave up. “That new AI friend of mine seems to be malfunctioning,” North Dakota remarked, clearly frustrated. The Counselor put his hand on North Dakota’s shoulder. “Maybe you should get some rest, Agent,” he suggested. “Whatever you say, Counselor,” North Dakota said as he sullenly walked from the room into the hallway.

Upon seeing him emerge from the room, Agents Washington and New York dropped their conversation and looked over at him. “Hey North! How’d it go?” Washington asked loudly. He was given a stern look by York, and Washington quickly shut up once he saw that North Dakota wasn’t in the best of moods. “Everything alright, good buddy?” York called after him as he passed them. North Dakota held up a thumbs up before turning the corner and starting to jog.

He made his way to his quarters without stopping. Once in his quarters, North Dakota took off his armor, changed, brushed his teeth, and laid down in bed. He was laying down in bed, reflecting on the day’s events when a hologram appeared in front of North Dakota. It was a soldier in standard Mark V armor. The armor was colored neon red and dark blue, with light radiating from it.

“And who might you be?” North Dakota asked, tired and fed up. The glowing figure seemed to shiver, then reassure itself before stuttering, “I- I am... I’m Theta.” North Dakota sat up. "Hi, Theta. Are you a guy or a girl?” North Dakota asked, unsure. “Um... I think I’m a boy,” Theta replied.

North frowned. “What happened back there, buddy? Now the Counselor thinks that you’re malfunctioning!” North Dakota asked Theta. “The Counselor is the mean man... right?” Theta asked. “What do you mean?” he asked, intrigued by Theta’s response. “Well what happened was-“ Theta cut off as he glitched a little bit. “Um... augh... I don’t remember that much. I just... don’t feel safe around him.” Theta then fell into North Dakota’s chest and started to cry.

North Dakota, without touching the AI, put his arms around Theta to comfort him. “Theta, you don’t have to be scared. No one wants to hurt you,” North Dakota consoled him. Theta continued to sob uncontrollably. North Dakota stroked Theta’s non-physical form with his hand. “Shhh, shhhhh,” he quieted Theta. Before long, Theta had stopped crying and was just leaning against North’s chest silently now.

Theta vanished back into the implant, and North Dakota laid back down, resting his head on his pillow, his hands behind his head. “What am I gonna do with you?” he asked himself, patting the back of his neck. North Dakota fell asleep right after that.

He was woken up several hours later by a humming noise in his ear, and when he opened his eyes, he saw Theta standing in front of his face. “Could you please... tell me... a- a bedtime story, North?” Theta managed.

“Alright, but only because you asked nicely,” North Dakota replied. “There once were three little AI. One lived in an unprotected storage unit, one lived in a weakly passcode-protected database, and the third lived in an isolated, strongly password-protected computer system...” Before long, both Theta and North Dakota were fast asleep.


End file.
